PS270 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Social Dominance Orientation, Authoritarianism, Ethnocentrism
Document Summary
Unequal status breeds prejudice and once these inequalities exist, prejudice helps justify the economic and social superiority of those who have wealth and power. Upper class individuals more likely than those in poverty to see fortune as the outcomes people earned thanks to skill and effort and not the result of having connections, money and luck. Patronizing behaviour allows people to maintain their positions of power. We typically respect the competence of those in high status and like those who agreeably accept a lower status. By seeing strengths and weaknesses in all group differences and positive and negative outcomes for all groups, differences in power/opportunities are glossed over and allow people to see the social system in a positive light. People high in this orientation view people in terms of hierarchies. Being in a dominant high status position promotes this orientation. Leads people high in social dominance to embrace prejudice and support political positions that justify prejudice.
